Talk:Vs. Tobias/@comment-28063203-20180527155620
This was probably the most hyped-up episode so far, I mean Ian facing Crystal? That was super exciting and there was a lot of build-up to it. Ian facing Paul? It was a challenge of ideals, a rivalry lasting the entire series, of course there'd be hype! But Ian making it to the finals and reaching closer to his goal, with one of the most powerful trainers standing in his way? I think that's just really exciting since this is something that's been built up the entire franchise, and here he is in the finals! He has a chance! I'm really glad that Ian picked some fantastic Pokemon to battle, especially Sandslash since he hasn't had the most exciting battles in the Johto league and in the Battle Frontier it was a double battle with Vibrava, but here he returns and defeats a legendary (Heatran) and then a Slaking, and stands off against a Gyarados (even if he faints) with a type disadvantage. Sceptile (my favorite Pokemon!) also had some nice wins too, he defeated a Tyranitar which are really powerful especially in the anime and manga. You know what? Every battle in the League has been fantastic so far! Plus the battling here is done really smart and kept me on the edge the entire time, Vs. Darkrai / Vs. Tobias was one of the best battles, if not the best battle so far in the League and maybe the entire franchise. And Ian loses. But it's forgivable here, he faced an incredibly powerful trainer with two legendaries and still managed to knock him down to his last Pokemon, and here it feels rewarding for him to lose even if he doesn't win the League. Then the rest of the episode focuses on the other characters, which I appreciate. Dawn's really developed over the course of the series, and we finally get to have Ian call her Dawn! Plus she shows Trey up, which is great. He's so smug and annoying, glad to see he won't be a problem anymore. And the support her parents give Dawn is so great! It really feels warming, she didn't win but they're still proud of her which is something the series could use after a lot of difficult son / daughter relationships (Elise, Brendan, Crystal - though she was an orphan I believe, and Ian himself). Actually now that I think about it, there's been a long theme of broken parent relationships - was that intentional? Verity was a nice addition, even if she didn't really serve much to the plot. Plus seeing people fangirl / fanboy over Ian's always great, lol. Dawn and Crystal's relationship has always been done great, it's really believable that they feel sad over departing because Dawn who had attitude issues didn't have a friend besides Crystal, and Crystal wanted to help her change and so Dawn became a better person and so we got a great friendship. I'll miss that friendship a lot to be honest, it was a great addition to the story. Conway's staying with Rowan, which is really cool! Y'know, I made a prediction Conway would join the series before PT: Dawn came out and I brushed it off, but he did return and he got really cool story arcs. The Evolution Research arc was a smart decision, it added more to the series plus if there are any newcomers reading this they get to learn along with Conway and everyone, and it tied into other storylines really well. I can't wait to see the next and final episode tomorrow!